TROGDOR THE BURNINATOR. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.

Game character mentioned in "Chosen" (7022) as Giles, Andrew, Xander, and Amanda play on the night before the final battle.

The name is a reference to an internet creation of an internet creation: The Atlanta-based but nationally known Trogdor the Burninator is a cartoon drawing by the cartoon character Strong Bad (associate of Strong Mad and Strong Sad), purported to have been made in response to an email request for advice on methods of drawing dragons. Strong Bad (who does not approve of chiaroscuro) uses an S-shape to draw a dragon and instruct others in dragon-drawing. He proceeds to provide the Burninator with a theme song and cartoon adventures, turning him into a dragon-man along the way (see http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html).

The "Chosen" gaming scene includes the following lines:

Andrew to Giles: You go through the door and are confronted by Trogdor the Burninator.

Giles: Oh, bugger it. Fight.

Andrew: Adios to five hit points. Trogdor has badly wounded you.

Giles: Well, wait a minute. What about my bag of illusions?

Andrew: Illusions against a Burninator? Silly, silly British man.

Amanda: I invoke a time flux on Trogdor.

Andrew: Step down, girlfriend, you can't just--

Amanda: Ninth level sorcerer, and I carry the emerald chalice. Trogdor is frozen in time.

Trogdor is indeed frozen in time, in the sense that, like many minor fictions alluded to by major literature (in this case, BtVS), he will live in history as, at least, a footnote. He is also part of the seventh season's particular focus on story vs. truth, illusion vs. reality ("Illusions against a Burninator?"). Finally, he allows Amanda a moment of triumph--in play, but with genuine emotion--before her death in the final battle.

--Jefferson Gess and Rhonda Wilcox